New owners of Dicks parent company have option to buy Marina City location

DICKS LAST RESORT

21-Feb-09  After buying the parent company and every Dicks Last Resort except for the one in Chicago, the new owners of DLR Restaurants are two months into an 18-month option to buy the Marina City location.

On December 28, 2008, Dallas entrepreneur Steve Schiff (left) sold his company to a group of investors that included Nashville restaurateur Edwin (Ted) Moats, Jr. Moats is co-founder of Logans Roadhouse, a chain of casual restaurants based in Nashville.

The Marina City location was not included in the deal. According to local manager Richard Fulghum, Given the difficulties and setbacks we had in getting this store opened there was no way to guarantee this location would be operational when the sale was finalized.

Fulghum believes the new owners will buy the Marina City location sometime in the fall. They just want to see some sales history on this store and I think Mr. Schiff wants to make a few nickels back on this store he worked so hard to get open and dumped a nice chunk of change in. The new ownership is very involved in the operations of this restaurant, they just dont technically own it.

Moats and fellow investors at Triton Pacific Capital Partners purchased Dicks locations in Dallas, San Antonio, Myrtle Beach, San Diego, Boston, and Las Vegas. Moats was named CEO of DLR Restaurants and the headquarters has been moved from Dallas to Nashville. About six people worked at the Dallas headquarters.

We have been very impressed with the management and the underlying business model of the company, Moats said of Dicks Last Resort in an interview in January with the Nashville Post. There is a counter-cyclical growth opportunity in casual dining to expand into leases vacated by weaker brands, and Dicks unique model is well positioned to take advantage of such situations.

Triton Pacific Capital Partners, LLC, a private equity firm in Los Angeles that invests in small and mid-size companies with considerable growth prospects, according to its web site, has the largest stake in Dicks Last Resort, followed by Moats. Triton managing partner Craig Faggen told the Dallas Morning News the new owners hope to open as many as three new locations this year.

Logans Roadhouse was sold in 1998 to CBRL Group, Inc., the parent company of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. More recently, Moats was president of H&C Racing, Inc., a company that operates a chain of restaurants with a stock car racing theme.

WGN-TV will be at Dicks Last Resort on Tuesday morning, shooting video for Around Town, a segment of WGN News. The station is covering Dicks Fat Tuesday Party. The restaurant will be offering a free breakfast buffet from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. The celebration Tuesday evening at Dicks will include a contest for best Mardi Gras costume, with the winner receiving double their weight in cash, according to the restaurants web site.

Dicks will also be handing out coupons at the breakfast event, redeemable for free drinks at the Fat Tuesday Party later in the day.

Celebrate the birth and life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with Chicago Sinfonietta as it presents its signature annual MLK Tribute Concert. Chicago Sinfonietta will perform Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Egmont Overture Op. 84, Adolphus Hailstork’s Epitaph for a Man Who Dreamed, Trevor Weston’s The People Could Fly, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Petite Suite de Concert Op. 77, plus Sir Michael Tippett’s Five Negro Spirituals from A child of our time and James Lee III’s Come Unto Me. A continued spoken word performance of Dr. King’s most important speeches will be interlaced with the musical components of the program. 7:30 p.m., Symphony Center, 220 South Michigan Avenue. Tickets: $10-62. Map. More info.

Tuesday

City Club of Chicago presents Lou Raizin, president of Broadway in Chicago, on Arts, Culture, Politics, and Power. Raizin leads the five premier theater stages in the city, bringing an economic impact of more than $750 million annually to the City of Chicago and State of Illinois. He created and currently chairs the Board of LUMA8 (Light Up My Arts), an entity of which currently supports the Arts In The Dark Parade and the River Walk Lantern Festival. He is also Board Chair of Chicago Loop Alliance. 11:30 a.m. reception, 12:00 p.m. luncheon. Maggiano’s Banquets, 111 West Grand Avenue. Cost: $50. Map. More info.